Entry makes top 10!

An entry from Hillcrest Elementary has been chosen as a top 10 finalist in the CBC Music Class Challenge! Over 35,000 students from every province and territory in Canada entered the challenge this year. Hillcrest is the only school in the BC interior to make the top 10!

Hillcrest’s music teacher Brook Roberts explains the school had two entries this year, all of the students in grades 3 to 5 performed “The Rest of my Life” by Sloan and the grade 5 students performed “Sucker” – by Mo Kenny. It was the Sloan song which was chosen by CBC’s judging panel as one of the top 10 finalists in the Elementary Vocal (grades 4-6) division. Top place in this category will win $3,000 in musical instruments and a plaque. The winner will be announced on Dec. 14th.

Roberts commented the students practiced in music class for about six weeks to prepare for the making of the videos. He said the Sloan video “rock band” auditioned for their parts and practiced at lunch hours, four times a week for three weeks. Hillcrest alumni Taylor Menzies helped develop the choreography for that video.

He noted for the contest there can be no audio editing and the song must be recorded in one shot. The contest rules also say the majority of the video footage must be of the students making the music. He said he had six camera operators when they shot the video at Song Sparrow Hall and that it took about four hours to edit the footage.

The Mo Kenny video had different challenges as Roberts’ vision for the video was to film it on the roof of the school. He commented that they were looking for a landscape that would help create a feeling of loneliness and abandonment, they took to the roof of our school to record and film Mo Kenny’s “Sucker”. Framed in frames, the goal was to create the collage that might hang in anyone’s living room or hallway. A place where one could look and remember.

He extends thanks to school principal Jodi Garries and to the SD83 leadership for developing a safety plan, putting up barricades, and finding a safe way to make it happen.

You can check out all the video entries by going to CBC Music Class Challenge in YouTube or the local ones by clicking the links below:
Hillcrest Elementary, Salmon Arm, B.C. – “The Rest of my Life” by Sloan

Hillcrest Elementary, Salmon Arm, B.C. – “Sucker” – by Mo Kenny